The Missouri River Ecosystem Exploring the Prospects for Recovery (2002) / Chapter Skim
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7. Recovering the Missouri River Ecosystem
7. Recovering the Missouri River Ecosystem
Pages 134-145
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From page 134... ...
This chapter identifies barriers and bridges to the successful implementation of adaptive management and provides policy, organizational, and scientific recommendations to help improve the condition of the Missouri River ecosystem.
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From page 135... ...
The legislation reinforces the discretion that the Corps has under Pick-SIoan and its other authorities. In regard to prospective adaptive management activities, federal environmental laws such as the Endangered Species Act and the National Environmental Policy Act would not be suspended.
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From page 136... ...
This clepenclence on predictable river flows inhibits management actions that seek to restore a degree of natural hydrologic variability of the river. Stakehoiclers who gain from the delivery of benefits, such as floocl-clamage reduction or navigation benefits, will naturally resist reductions in those benefits.
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From page 137... ...
2. A representative stakeholder committee should be empowered and convened by the appropriate agencies to develop a basinwide strategy, conduct assessments, review plans, and provide oversight of the implementation of adaptive management initiatives.
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From page 138... ...
An independent advisory pane! can also help resolve legitimate differences regarding scientific studies, structure adaptive management
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From page 139... ...
A useful initial effort of the independent science group would be to identify a set of indicators to be used in developing an assessment of ecological status and trends in the Missouri River ecosystem.
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From page 140... ...
Because previous, similar efforts in the Missouri may not have yielded results that are satisfactory to all parties, however, does not mean that stakeholder cooperation is not possible in the Missouri. Moreover, several of this committee's recommendations an independent science advisory body, formal facilitation, adequate and sustained resources from and participation by the federal government, mandated and formal input into Missouri River management decisions, equal participation by a spectrum of users that includes tribal and environmental interests have not been adequately tested as part of Missouri River management decisions.
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From page 141... ...
However, river managers and scientists should not lose sight of the fact that the Missouri River mainstem is the ecological backbone of the larger Missouri River basin which includes tributaries like the Bad, Kansas, Little Missouri, Platte, and Yellowstone rivers. Objectives and management strategies for future Missouri River management will be enhanced to the extent that they consider the effects of these and other tributary streams on the Missouri's mainstem.
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From page 142... ...
The Corps of Engineers, as an equal partner in cooperation with other stakeholders in Missouri River ecosystem management, should be guided in its dam and reservoir operations by an adaptive management program designed to support improvements to the Missouri River ecosystem. When it is ultimately revised, the Master Manual should provide the flexibility to execute adaptive management actions, such as revising flows to emulate key elements of pre-regulation hydrology and geomorphology.
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From page 143... ...
The building blocks for a successful adaptive management program will ultimately include a clear set of goals and objectives for the Missouri River and its floodplain ecosystem. The adaptive management program should also have a clear legal foundation, as well as a clear means of dispute resolution.
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From page 144... ...
Responsibility for reservoir operations still rests with the Corps, but these decisions have become more complicated and more controversial with economic and environmental changes and with shifting public values. The Corps of Engineers allocates the benefits derived from Missouri River mainstem reservoir operations to a variety of users and stakeholders.
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From page 145... ...
However these questions are answered, the current degraded ecological conditions, the inability among the Missouri River basin states to reach consensus on desirable levels of river flows, and an inability to promptly revise the Master Manual are unsatisfactory. Moving beyond gridlock and toward river recovery and better cooperation between the basin states is a tremendous challenge, but one that must be addressed if ecological declines are to be reversed and the region and nation are to enjoy a broader set of benefits from the Missouri River ecosystem.
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